At long last we have a new Minnesota Project WET Coordinator. Please help me in welcoming Janine Kohn - she will be an excellent and energetic addition to the Project WET network!
Janine has been a resident of North Hudson, Wisconsin for the past 13 years with her husband Benji Kohn and their two beautiful 4-yr old twin daughters, Lily and Hayden. Janine formerly served as the National Leopold Education Project Director and National Education Specialist for Pheasants Forever for eleven years. While at PF, she directed and administrated the environmental education program for the organization, was an organizer of partnerships with non-profits, foundations, academic institutions, companies and state governmental agencies. She served as a public speaker, national trainer, event planner, fundraiser, curriculum writer and editor of their national education newsletter, STRIDES. Janine is a writer and photographer and has been published nationally in various outdoor and education publications. She created the Ribs for Ringnecks national campaign and served as one of the original organizers of the No Child Left Indoors initiative.
Her 23 year career in education previously led her to work for two environmental education companies in south Florida where she taught thousands of youth about the wonders of Florida ecology, paleontology and fresh/salt water systems. While in Florida, she served as the assistant director of an international adventure summer camp which traveled throughout the west exploring the National Parks. Her experience in summer camp programming inspired her to create the first T.U.N.E. camp (The Ultimate Nature Experience) geared toward connecting youth to the outdoors through habitat studies, outdoor skills and exploring nature. The first camp was established in Minnesota seven years ago and has expanded to Colorado, North Dakota and Illinois.
She has served as an education consultant for various groups and works with schools and non-profits to create schoolyard habitats. Her passion is working with youth and families and sharing her educational experiences with others--especially her four-year old twins who share the same love of the outdoors with their mom and dad! (In fact as this is written, her daughters convinced their dad to put up the tent and they all lay sleeping in the backyard on their first 2013 camp-out!)
Janine holds a bachelor’s of Science in Education from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and is completing a master’s program at Hamline University. Fishing is another passion of hers as she loves to be out and about the waterways of Minnesota. She currently serves as the youth chair and on the board for the Twin Cities Trout Unlimited Chapter. She is very excited to be a part of the Minnesota DNR and looks forward to working with all of you in our Project WET network as she gets her feet "WET" as Minnesota's new coordinator.
You can reach her at:
janine.kohn@state.mn.us |651-259-5905
Best Wishes,
April Rust
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